• Platform members – including Enel, Fortum, Grundfos, Vattenfall, Ørsted – led by CSR Europe in partnership with the Fair Tax Foundation will work together towards the development of a tax index aimed at assessing companies’ performance on tax transparency and responsible tax behaviour.

Over the past years, multinational companies have been under the scrutiny of investors and civil society organisations for their approach and behaviour to taxation. The push for transparency and responsible corporate tax behaviour is here to stay. The upcoming EU public Country-by-Country Reporting Directive, for instance, will require multinational entities operating in the EU to publicly disclose defined tax information on a country-by-country basis.

To align with the new expectations of European policymakers and other stakeholders, CSR Europe is kicking off a new collaborative platform on Tax Responsibility and Transparency aimed at developing a tax index for the assessment of companies’ performances in terms of Tax Transparency and Responsible Tax Behaviour.

Platform members – including Enel, Fortum, Grundfos, Vattenfall, Ørsted– will address the following key challenges:

• The lack of clarity in existing reporting tools and initiatives related to tax information

• The frameworks and metrics to use based on stakeholders’ requirements

• The inability to monitor performance and level of transparency over time resulting in insufficient communication

Members, led by CSR Europe in partnership with the Fair Tax Foundation, will work together to define how to:

• Measure tax transparency and responsible behaviour

• Monitor progress over time

• Benchmark their performance vis-à-vis peers

• Communicate performance to external and internal stakeholders

• Develop a narrative around tax behaviour

To validate its work, the platform will engage key external stakeholders from the private and public sectors - including civil society organisations, NGOs, European policymakers and academia – which will contribute to the work of members by sharing feedback.

Lorena Sorrentino, Markets & EU Manager, CSR Europe

We are excited to launch this new collaborative platform on Tax Responsibility and Transparency. CSR Europe has been supporting companies in integrating tax into their sustainability agenda over the past couple of years. A sustainable company is a company that pays its fair share of taxes. We have seen increased demand and requirements from stakeholders, including investors and policymakers, for companies to be more transparent and responsible with their tax affairs. Having the Fair Tax Foundation and frontrunner companies joining us, with the support of other key stakeholders, indicates the timely need and importance of such a collaboration. We believe our work will enable companies to show their commitment to improving their public tax disclosures. We hope this platform will become the north star of tax responsibility, with more companies joining in the future, paving the way for a new era of sustainable and responsible business.

Companies interested in the collaborative platform can reach out to CSR Europe to express their interest in joining the current members.

For more information:

Contact Spyros Perikleous,

Project Manager

UPCOMING EVENTS